Web 3.0

Web 3.0, to my understanding, is an upgraded version of Web 2.0.  It will change how we currently interact with websites and those that are going to be created.  There is not currently enough information about exactly what Web 3.0 will entail but it will definitely be an advancement from Web 2.0.  Due to this, what Web 3.0 will have is just a guessing game.  Some things can be guessed close enough though to give us a basic understanding of what is to come.

A few of the ideas that have been put out there is being able to categorize web data, rating websites, and more options with mobile to computer integration.  All of these sound like really great ideas and something to look forward to.  Web 3.0 sounds like a promising future and some even say is already being implemented now.  Personally, I think that the adjustments that are being talked about seem very useful.

Who doesn’t love categories?  I know I love being able to organize things by category.  If the internet was set up in such a way to where I could do the same, it would make things so much easier.  Or even better, if artificial intelligence could categorize things for me.  It is being talked about that AI could store and categorize the information for us, to where our computers could comprehend the data that is better than it is now.  Though it will take time to initially set it up, I believe it will make things easier in the long haul.

Imagine websites being rated on, wouldn’t that be great?  To be able to view sites that have ratings would let us know which sites are useful and the others we would probably want to skip.  This is probably going to be done with AI, since user ratings can be flawed.  There have been multiple instances where people get paid to leave reviews or rating, so this would not be helpful at all.  I look forward to being able to view website ratings.  I think of all the time I could save not having to weed through websites that have a lot of mumbo jumbo or excessive advertisements.  It makes me wonder how the ratings will be done, what the specific guidelines would be for a website that would be well rated compared to one that is poorly rated.

I am quite looking forward to Web 3.0 and the changes that it will bring.

Resources:
https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4923/web-30
http://www.expertsystem.com/what-exactly-is-web-30/
https://becominghuman.ai/web-3-0-the-third-generation-of-web-1202ec63ebb7

Composting

Composting is a great way to recycle food waste.  Some reasons that composting is a good idea is that it reduces the food waste that enters our landfills while also helping enrich the soil.  Not all food is compostable but a lot of it is.  Think about if we all composted our leftover or rotting fruit and vegetables, that is a lot of waste that would be reused instead of just trashed.
I have been composting on and off since about 2011.  My older sister, who introduced me to the concept, has been doing it much longer than myself.  She has shown me how important our environment is and how we can all make a difference.  If you are a gardening nut, I really suggest looking into composting or even if you just care about the environment.  See if it’s for you. 

Now we have a double compost tumbler, which has made the process a lot easier than digging up the yard whenever we choose to compost.  It looks like this and I think it is a wonderful idea to use a tumbler for different types of home situations.

When I first started out I just used a shovel, dug up the yard, and did it the good old fashioned way which is shown below.

Flickr Slideshow

Podcast

This is my first and hopefully last attempt at a mini podcast audio.  I attempted to be funny but through my nervousness I know it did not translate.  Enjoy!!

RSS

I found that there are multiple big companies that use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to get information to their customers.  I knew a basic understanding of what RSS feeds did but did not realize the extent to what capabilities it offered.  For instance, you can get weather alerts, product stats, and traffic updates through RSS feeds.

Most companies use it for their stories though, one of those companies is CNN and they offer multiple feeds on their website.  From topics such as "Top Stories" to "Travel", they cover numerous topics and areas.  Personally I find the top stories section to be quite useful.  On a daily basis I am reading news stories from different outlets.  CNN promotes their RSS feeds by saying that their news can be delivered to you "directly to your desktop".  RSS makes it easy to view the data as well as the sources that these companies want to share with their viewer base

CNN RSS

When searching online I noticed that some large companies have stopped offering RSS, such as Google who discontinued their reader in 2013.  For some, RSS is still flourishing but for others their user base has declined drastically so no longer bother offering it.

Time To Reuse Those Recyclables

There have been multiple comments about reusing recyclable materials so I decided to go ahead and write about it.  There are so many ways to help our environment and one of them is to reduce the waste of recycled materials.  One great way to do that is by reusing these materials and there are so many out there that are not useful but really cool looking too.

These projects range from small projects to very large projects.  From reusing glass jars for candles to plastic bottles for home walls, the possibilities are endless.  Personally, I have reused reusable bags in my backyard for gardening as well as 2 liter bottles for certain herbs that will self drain extra water at the bottom.  If you like gardening, I recommend looking into it.  Also if you still use plastic disposable bags from the store, I recommend opting for using reusable bags.  Disposable bags are not only bad for the environment but also litter our streets, I will write more about this at a later time.

These are just a few of the things you can do with recycled or reusable materials.  Did you know that you can make furniture out of cardboard?  You can and they actually look really awesome.  I started working on a piece for my cats years ago but never finished it.  There are buildings that are made out of plastic bottles, glass bottles, pallets, and so much more.  Now, you may not be feasible for you to make an entire building from recycled materials in your own backyard but there are a lot of great DIY websites out there that can assist you with some ideas, if you are willing to tackle the task.  I usually use Instructables, go check it out  Remember that you are also helping the environment with some of these projects.


Here are a few links to check out:
Buildings Made From Recycled Materials
Cardboard Furniture
Creative Ways To Reuse Plastic Bottles
10 Items You Can Reuse Over and Over

Ocean Acidification

I know climate change is a controversial topic but most people have heard of it, no matter your personal stance.  Often I find that not everyone has heard of ocean acidification.  Ocean acidification is what is in its name, the ocean is pretty much too acidic.  You might be asking yourself, does it change anything for us?  Well, yes it does and here is how it does.

The ocean covers approximately 70% of the earth's surface and that water is just taking in all of this CO2.  It absorbs about a third of human made carbon dioxide and that is a lot, approximately 20 million tons of it on a daily basis.  During the Industrial Revolution, from 1760 to about 1820-1840, we transitioned to using more machines.  We started using more iron production, steam power, chemical manufacturing, and factories.  These things became very popular and started to have an impact on the acidity of the ocean.  

The ocean is approximately 30% more acidic than it use to be, since the Industrial Revolution.  The ocean being too acidic is ruining the ocean's ecosystems.  A lot of the world relies on the ocean for survival.  People rely on the ocean for food, money, and to keep us safe.  Coral reefs protect the coastlines from flooding and erosion.  So without these reefs, that means more flooding and coastline erosion.  In different parts of the world coral reefs are dying.  The water is too acidic so they are having difficulty forming their shells, the reefs are being bleached from warmer temperatures, and you can even say that some coral reefs are basically "cooking".

The ocean being too acidic is a real problem and one that harms not only the species living in the sea, but us as well.  We can make a change and help out our environment.  Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

Temperatures On Earth

The rise of global temperatures is a problem.  It is causing the sea levels to rise, expanding the ocean water, glaciers and ice sheets are melting just to name a few.  The change in temperature is causing problems, as far as natural disasters go.  There is an increase in flooding, hurricanes are stronger, wildfires are more frequent, and heat waves are happening more often.

For those of us who are older or know people that are older, it is interesting to ask them about how the weather is different from say twenty years ago or fifty years ago.  I had a talk with my grandmother about the weather on her most recent visit, seeing as she is in her late nineties, she has experienced a lot.  She talked about the difference in how the weather has been in the past few years compared to when she was a child or even how different it is from when she was in her mid adulthood.  She has experienced the change in our planet first hand.  She told me she worries for future generations.

Over the past few years I have done some research on what is going on.  I have article upon article and research after research about what is causing our climate to change.  The fact is, one big problem that affects our climate is pollution.  CO2 emissions, methane, human-made aerosols, and overall pollution has contributed to where our climate is today.  Below I'm providing some visuals of change.

Here is a link with a video that shows the progression of the earth's surface temperature changes from 1950-2013.  Video: Global Temperature Variation

NASA has a great site that shows images of how the earth has changed over time.  NASA Images of Change

The Rising Sea

When thinking about the environment, there are a few things that come to mind right away.  One of those things is climate change and how it is impacting us today.  For quite sometime now the sea levels have been rising.  Now I want you guys to understand that there are already places around the world that are being taken over by the ocean's water.  Since glaciers are melting this is causing the sea levels to rise and the water is getting warmer which is causing a reaction in the water known as thermal expansion.  Thermal expansion is causing the ocean to swell.  To give you a picture of what is happening, the sea levels are rising at a rate of approximately 0.07 inches per year and this rate is accelerating.  If all of the glaciers in the world were to melt, the sea levels could rise up to more than 200 feet.  Scary thought right?

There are cities around the world that have been dealing with the affects of the rising sea first hand.  One place that comes to mind is the Mekong Delta which is located in Vietnam, generations of rice farmers have had to look to providing for their families through other means.  Since the rising saltwater has gotten into their rice crops, they have had to turn to shrimp farming instead.  The ground is just too salty to continue to be able to do what generations of their family have done.  Even here in the US we are seeing an impact, certain parts in Florida have had their freshwater sources contaminated by ocean water.  When this happens it is essentially contaminating the water, rendering it useless with what it was intended to be used for.

Though this process may seem like a slow one, it is still impacting us now and will be worse for future generations.  By being aware of the issues that impact our environment and what make climate change worse, we can make an change.  Look online for multiple ways to help reduce your carbon footprint, but at this link it has some info as well: How you can stop global warming.  Together we can help slow the rising sea levels.

Recycling Glass

This post is inspired by a comment on my blog, the topic of recycling.  Another blogger brought up the point about recycling glass and how it may or may not be recycled locally (Las Vegas).  This made me investigate the issue, since I knew about recycling but maybe I missed the details about the recycling of glass.

Not all places in the United States recycles glass, Las Vegas fortunately is a place that does recycle glass.  Certain types of glass products are still not recyclable though.  Here is a link that shows what is recyclable and what is not recyclable (What Can I Recycle?).  This brings up the question, why is glass such a controversial topic when it comes to recycling?

There are a number of reasons glass is not allowed to be recycled in some areas and just a pain to recycle in the areas it can be recycled. 
Here are some of the popular arguments out there against recycling glass:

• It is dangerous for workers to handle, especially when it breaks.
• It is not cost effective and the return on investment, ROI, is not there like it is with other recycled materials.
• Different types of glass are heated at different temperatures so not all glass products can be recycled together.

Given some of these arguments are legitimate, like the safety for employees handling the glass.  Do the pros outweigh the cons though?  Let's take a look.
The pros of recycling glass:

• Helps the environment by reducing CO2 emissions by making more recycled glass that can be reused.
• Conserves the land, by not having to go gather more raw material.
• It won't fill our landfills up.
• It can be recycled over and over again.

In conclusion, we may not be able to recycle every piece of glass we have but recycling bottles and jars definitely helps the environment.  Feel good the next time you recycle a bottle and when you have a mirror or set of plates you no longer want or need, find it a new home instead of opting to toss it in the trash.

Bing vs Google

When you think of a search engine, usually people will say Google.  It is rare to find someone who has not heard of or used Google, but it is a very different story when you inquire about Bing.  Not everyone knows about Bing but the two are not so different after all.

I went through a few websites and found a couple that compared the two, then tested it out for myself.  Personally, I have used both Bing and Google search engines in the past.  The layouts use to be very similar to one another, but Bing has since changed its layout, giving it a different feel from Google's current layout.  After reading the article about the differences between Google and Bing by the author, Whitson Gordon, he said that Bing had better video search results, so I decided to check it out.  I have to admit, I agree with the author.  Not only did Bing pull up the video I wanted to see but conveniently the lyrics right next to it.  Google did not offer up the lyrics so easily, instead I had to scroll down to find them.

I continued to stick with the theme but instead changed over to search specifically for images.  Since I read what Jessie Moore posted online about the "5 things Bing does better than Google".  Again, I compared the two search results and preferred Bing's over Google.  Keep in mind, I only ever use Google for all of my search engine needs.  The difference between the two were very different actually.  The images that Google displayed had more text or more ads, while Bing displayed more face images which is what I was searching for.  If you would like to do the same feel free to search for the exact keywords I did, "youtube rick roll".  Check it out for yourself and I think after this post I am going to opt to using Bing more often.

Sources:

Whitson Gordon, "Search Engine Showdown: Google vs. Bing". lifehacker, lifehacker.com/search-engine-showdown-google-vs-bing-1739263052. Nov 2015.

Jessie Moore, "5 things Bing does better than Google". Search Engine Watch, searchenginewatch.com/2017/09/26/5-things-that-bing-does-better-than-google. Sept 2017.

Web 2.0 Sites

On the Alexa website I viewed the first top 10 sites from the top 500 list.  Out of the list the following are Web 2.0 sites:

• YouTube
• Facebook
• Wikipedia

In my opinion, what makes the above websites popular are what they offer to the community.  YouTube makes watching videos and listening to music, easily accessible from multiple devices.  Facebook has an environment that makes it easy for people to keep in touch or strangers to share funny stories and moments together.  Wikipedia is a great source for all sorts of information, where the information is often added daily by the community.  They offer different things to users, but they are very different and popular in their own categories.

Gmail is great

Gmail is one of Google’s most popular products.  I have used multiple emailing services and find that Gmail is the most useful.  They offer nice features such as 2-Step verification, and also log where/when an account has been accessed.  Gmail also offers multiple extensions that are helpful and often boost productivity.  For example, an extension called “Ginger” checks your emails to make sure there are no spelling errors, grammatical errors, or punctuation issues.  This extension also offers translating abilities which I find very useful, especially if needed when working with another individual where your native languages are not one hundred percent compatible.

So it starts

So, this is my first post on this blog and I am excited to be starting it.  I am planning on writing about issues with the environment, including but not limited to ways we can reduce our negative impact on it.  This is a passionate topic for me and has been for quite some time.  I owe it all to my older sister, she is an avid environmentalist and outspoken planet lover.  She ignited this passion within me for the environment and it has been a big part of my life ever since.  I started out with recycling, then it progressed to composting, and now I have adjusted my daily life to ensure that I reduce any negative impacts I could have on our planet.
I know others also notice the drastic changes in the weather, air quality, and the overall transformations in our environment.